Jamie Dettmer
March 05, 2013

TRIPOLI, LIBYA — Since Moammar Gadhafi was ousted as Libya’s leader over a year ago, Egyptian officials have been intercepting large caches of weapons smuggled from Libya destined for black-market transfer to Syria and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

But in recent weeks the pattern of the arms shipments has shifted, according to officials, and fundamentalist Muslim groups in Egypt, known as Salafis, also are receiving the weapons.

Nancy Palus February 18, 2013

As soldiers in Mali continue working to root out armed militants, aid organizations are navigating rivers and mined roads to bring relief to communities affected by the fighting. Some 36,000 people have fled their homes since fighting began in January, but families who stayed also need help.

Aid agencies say families in northern Mali are running dangerously low on food.

A reporter on the ground in northern Mali says most Islamist militants have fled the city of Gao since last week, when French warplanes bombed their positions.

The VOA reporter in Gao said Tuesday that some militants have been spotted in the area - driving in trucks or riding motorbikes or hiding out in trees. But he adds it is clear the Islamists are not numerous or organized enough to continue applying the strict Sharia law they imposed after taking control of the city last April.

DAKAR — The Malian government has ordered all schools shut down in the capital and a nearby garrison town following demonstrations in the two cities. Some 800 kilometers south of the front line where the army is fighting to hold back Islamic militants, people are increasingly frustrated with a worsening economic situation and what many call government inaction.

All schools, from kindergarten to university, are closed until further notice in the Malian capital Bamako and the nearby garrison town of Kati about 15 kilometers away.

Kim Lewis Last updated on: November 15, 2012 6:38 AM

A 7.8 million dollar grant offered through the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation will help an American university work with eight African countries to improve their farming techniques.

Michigan State University, through funding from the Gates Foundation Global Development Program, says the research aims to intensify farming methods that meet the agricultural needs of Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Ethiopia and Tanzania.

Anne Look October 08, 2012

SEVARE, MALI — Northern Malian militias are uniting and training young men and women how to fight as they prepare for an offensive to the North. The militias reflect a growing eagerness among Malians to retake the territory seized by Al-Qaida-linked militants in April.

There's a new generation of the Ganda Koy. Its leaders revived the militia in April shortly after armed groups seized Mali’s three northern regions. Volunteers are getting a crash course in being soldiers.

Anne Look September 24, 2012

BAMAKO — Mali remains mired in uncertainty six months after a military coup derailed what was a relatively stable, but some say faltering, democracy and paved the way for al-Qaida-linked Islamist militants to seize the northern half of the country.

It has been six months since an army mutiny spiraled into a military coup in the early hours of March 22.

Some in Mali cheered the coup as the shock treatment the country needed - a purging of an unpopular leadership that many said was corrupt, and chance to get back on track.

Aid agencies are fighting a renewed cholera outbreak in rebel-controlled northern Mali, one of several parts of West Africa dealing with the disease.

Authorities in Mali's Gao and Asongo districts have reported 147 cases and 12 deaths since early July. The number of cases, which had begun to fall earlier this month, are again on the rise, aggravated by the rainy season.

Nancy Palus

DAKAR — Calm has returned to Goundam, in Mali's Timbuktu region, after the armed group Ansar Dine brought in reinforcements and rounded up people following demonstrations on Saturday.

Residents say their only options are to flee or to submit to the commands of Ansar Dine - which is bent on imposing a version of Islamic law far more severe than Goundam's Muslim population is accustomed to.